...more recent posts
I read somewhere that the '60s antiwar song "Fortunate Son" had been corrupted to sell jeans and jingoism. Any links on that?
i found this when i clicked on a mysterious looking banner ad on a pakistani news site.
is it true that Dr Wilson didnt do a 11/1 "Day of the Dead" post??
it aint me
get your war on
revolutionary assoc. of the women of afghanistan photo archive. warning - graphic and disturbing.
The San Jose Mercury (aka Murky News) printed three letters to the editor which questioned the Bush administration's bombing of Afghanistan. Wierd. Is this a sign that it's safe to be rational in America?
I'm hitting the road to see the Butthole Surfers tonight. Blue moon, Holloween, the Butthole Surfers, Knitting Factory LA -- seems like some kind of harmonic convergence.
Steve, if you want to reach me, my cell is the best choice. 408 892 0826
For the first time in 46 years, Halloween ghosts and goblins can trick-or-treat by the light of a full moon. They won't get another chance until 2020, astronomers said.
Wednesday's full moon will look like an orange jack-o-lantern rising from the east at dusk, said Jack Horkheimer, executive director of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium.
(from LKB)
So, is this like the "credible threat" against airforce one, or is this the other kind? Why can't they just say what it is? I guess because it's something like "Mossad says so."
Anyway, I'm moving the /treehouse to highest alert. So you know what to do. Or not.
And what's up with this? Mushroom clouds north of Kabul? Not good. I've been saying it privately but I'll go on the record here - we are going to drop some nuclear weapons on someone, real soon. Here's the formula:
"Experts" and various other talking head types - including many politicians - sense a chance to gain some points in the American public's mind by hitting Bush for being too timid. McCain, to take one example, is strongly calling for ground troops to take and hold land in Afghanistan. Thomas Freidman is calling for similar action (what's up with this guy - he's starting to scare me.) In any case, Bush is going to be forced to do something to seem strong, but as soon as we send ground troops into Afghanistan they will immediately and soundly get their asses kicked. We have the technology, but I'm guessing that doesn't mean much in the chaos of battle. Being accustomed to battle conditions is the only thing that matters, and these people are clearly accustomed. The US military would have to take 10 years of strong defeats before we'd be toughened up enough to really duke it out with a nothing-to-lose islamic fundamentalist army with decades of experience fighting on their home soil.
So, after we lose a couple Somalia style battles (with our soldiers being tortured, gutted, beheaded, and otherwised dragged through the streets of Kabul) our people, goaded by the McCain types, will demand blood. They will demand a victory that our conventional forces will be unable to deliver. So Bush will have no choice but to use nuclear weapons. Even if it's clear tactically that they won't do much good. They will appease the psychic need for a big hit.
(And two days later the Russians will drop one on Chechnya.)
Hope I'm wrong.
I just checked my old e.mail address and found the same e.mail (to the original circle of five friends and family he started out with) message from Jim Louis about "seeing you next year", so I think he's pissed off at the world not just us or not pissed off at all. But I'm already missing him and Rachael. Good to see Mark kicking in again and Steve from afar. Who's anonymous ?
archived web pages at the internet archive wayback machine
WOTD
Gound (Noun)
Pronunciation: ['gawnd]
Definition 1: The extraneous matter that collects in the corners of the eyes during sleep.
go yankee's
peter pan finds tinkerbell
Forced by the Freedom of Information Act, the EPA now admits that toxic releases at the WTC site are worse than had been reported. I'm not happy about working down there, and can only hope that things are not too bad where I am, about seven blocks away (they claim concentrations are only troublesome at "ground zero"). I certainly don't have much trust in the authorities, but I'm not inclined to wear a respirator. Long term effects are left to the imagination, while the lingering stench of war and death causes depression in the here and now.
Anyone going to a Butthole Surfers show on the west coast? I'm looking around for tickets. SF seems to be sold out, but Portland still looks available.
containment policy
America the Graphical! Click here to view a three page "curated collection" of media banners related to 9/11. Fair warning: pop-ups await you.
Will the real stooge please stand up?
Our pal Steve DiBenedetto is constantly mistaken for actor Evan Handler, who played Larry in the Three Stooges movie.
The New Yorker has a short article on trucking into Manhattan, a long-standing problem that's been brought to a head by recent events. I'm having trouble getting shipments into the Bookstore. As usual, blame it on Robert Moses.
Also a useful piece (not online) by Nicholas Lemann on What Terrorists Want, contrasting military and academic views of terrorism with understandings derived from the study of civil wars. Wide-spread civil war makes sense as USAma's realistic goal, and these wars don't necessarily proceed in the way you might think.
An article in yesterday's (or was it Sunday's?) Buenos Aires Herald addressed the Latin American ambivalence about Bush's call to arms. This jist of it is this: "We're all behind you on this counter-terrorism thing, but to a point. We remember your counter-communism thing and all the havoc your policies wreaked on Latin American nations."
These shades of gray seem to be lost in US media output.
If you're tired of being reamed out for your “wimpy” or “traitorous” left-wing views about the Bush bombing campaign, you might feel better to learn that your ideas are shared by many counterterrorism experts, as discussed in this article by David Corn. The real revelation, for me at least, was learning that Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, erstwhile guitarist for Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers, now makes his living as a "military-technology expert," flakking high-tech terrorism solutions to the defense industry. I couldn’t help it, as soon as I saw his name I started humming Bodhisattva.(Would you take me by the hand/Can you show me/The shine of your Japan/The sparkle of your china...?)
what does dave do on this night which makes it unlike other nights? he listens to the concert for daves america on the transmission wire while he watches the men hurl things and brandish finely tooled sssslabs of wood on the moving picture box.. he wishes to comment on the proceedings and he calls upon you, those that bow down before him (and sometimes after him) to take heed of his words (and then to unheed them soon after).
dave thinks somethings are better heard and not seen (and sometimes not heard as well) the backstreet boys and melissa ethridge are fine examples dave might mention.
dave thinks despite the majority of his movies adam sandler can still be funny. his performance tonight dave thought was an instant classic. i dont know if rudy was there but the whole crowd hooted down mark green and soon after lovingly crooned 'guiliani' en sotto voce.
it is true what dave says, that lands exist beyond the waters. legend has it that once on The Far Shores he takes on new form as a dark red taurus, the color of blood, and can travel at magnificient speeds. it is a wonder he is not torn apart by the brute forces of nature. but that is what makes him dave.
dave now listens to a cacophony over the transmission wire as the assembled chant as one a sound much like an owl. he wonders why he did not think this concert was worthy of his Presence.
we are reminded of the wonders that dave speaks of from his wonderous travels across the water. here he is reacquainted with "rock blocs" emanating from teenage wastelands from The Early Years from The Time Beffore. also there are men (and sometimes women) who speak only of lewd and procreative acts (my love is vengence) in a frenzy of words and beats that can only hope to enliven and debase the spirit at once. this lesson is not lost on dave during his journey (to only dave know where). he too had trouble reading the signs even though the directions were within reach at all times. were it not for the fortuitousness of the turns that he did make would he not have reached his destination? (if he ever had one. it is said he is rootless, unlike the root which is rooted.)
Will We Not Get Fooled Again?
now the Lipps thats Curled (and now curdled). dave asks if it is ever possible to know which mick was finer at his craft, the one they call Mantle or the one who is Jagger. one thing that dave would say is that despite all the orgies of masculine nakedness that both of the micks endured, he is sure that the Jagged One handled his bat in an entirely different manner than the one who wielded one for the damned yankees of the forbidden zone.
dave reaffirmed on his visit to The Far Shores that watching the visual text he calls Meet The Parents causes The All Unknowing One physical discomfort to the degree where he can no longer endure the psychic sensation and must alter his visual text in order to mitigate his circumstances.. this torture he has termed 'humor' and it is his achilles heel or it would be called as such if dave had any respect for achilles. but seeing as achilles was a hopeless prevaricator and merely an "enhanced" humanoid, dave would not like to associate himself with such a hero.
what does kid rock have to say to the children? dave wants to know. he also wants to know how can people actually refer to another humanoid as p. diddy without losing a thing the humans know as dignity?
dave thinks macy gray did justice to Little Help From My Friends, especially considering she must follow The Jagged ONe.
The Crowd in the Garden does not like the one they call Hillary, even with the one they call Bill looking on. now even the Bill is met with a chilly reception. these people in The Forbidden City must have come from the Rebulica Hinterlands. but the Bill can win over The Crowd like the one they call HIllary never will.
WHo let James Taylor back in? dave becomes nostalgic for a time that never was. the men in uniforms continue to partake of sport, the pursuit has become meaningless without the words.
dave enjoyed the firefighter who taunted The Evil One. the fireman ended his taunt with "and i live in Rockaway and this is my face, bitch!"
The Rudy speaks in his platitudes to His people. The Crowd cheers for Yankee roundballers from The Forbidden Zone. There the Rudy is King for Another Day.
if only Sinatra were alive, it would all be ok. but it isnt.
its the melloncamp with a terrible new jingle. it is thought that dave once lived in The Pink House.
dave waits for the Walrus (what would john think?) and then he will be no more. and we can all (once again) praise dave for that.
Set list:
BLIND MAN
1401 (aka THE COLORED F.B.I. GUY)
HEY
DUM DUM
PITTSBURG TO LEBANON
HUMAN CANNONBALL
ROCKY
GET DOWN
I SAW AN X-RAY OF A GIRL PASSING GAS
CHERUB
SHAME OF LIFE
THEY CAME IN
22 GOING ON 23
DRACULA FROM HOUSTON
PEPPER
JIMI
DUST DEVIL
ENCORES
WHO WAS IN MY ROOM LAST NIGHT
THE SHAH SLEEPS IN LEE HARVEY'S GRAVE
Cool optical illusion (via metafilter)
